Cassava Technologies has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the South African AI Association (SAAIA), an industry body focused on growing responsible AI adoption.
The MOU will see artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and GPU-as-a-service (GPUaas) being delivered across the African continent.
In terms of the agreement, SAAIA’s more than 3 000 AI practitioners, comprising entrepreneurs, researchers and members of the wider business community in South Africa, will have access to Cassava’s data centre GPUs to develop and deploy local AI solutions and initiatives.
The organisations will also collaborate on initiatives aimed at supporting the regional and broader African AI ecosystem.
“We are proud to partner with SAAIA to support the growth of Africa’s AI ecosystem,” says Ziaad Suleman, CEO of Cassava Technologies South Africa and Botswana.
“By extending our advanced AI infrastructure and capabilities to SAAIA’s growing community of AI professionals, we’re enabling greater access to the compute power required to build, test and scale innovative local solutions.
“We believe this partnership will deliver meaningful value to both organisations and, more importantly, to the business and research communities driving AI development on the continent.”
The SAAIA is focused on promoting the advancement of responsible AI in the country by uniting thousands of AI practitioner across the commercial, government, academic, start-up and NGO sectors.
It also hosts the AI Expo Africa, and serves as a driving force behind trade and investment in the continent’s rapidly-expanding smart technology segment.
“SAAIA is pleased to be partnering with Cassava Technologies in strengthening AI in South Africa,” says SAAIA founder and chairman Dr Nick Bradshaw.
“Supporting local AI entrepreneurs is a key pillar of SAAIA, and access to GPU-as-a-service is a key enabler to growing the emerging AI start-up ecosystem.”
The collaboration follows Cassava’s recent announcement of plans to build Africa’s first AI factory, providing local businesses, governments and researchers with access to AI computing capacity.
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